Monitors or televisions having cathode ray tubes are being increasingly squeezed out of the market by flat screens. The flat glass used for flat screens of this type must correspond to particular standards and must, in particular, be defect free, it being possible for both surface sides of a flat glass panel to be viewed. In this way, the glass side, which is provided with electrical terminals and can thus be processed photolithographically, is to be inspected against different standards to the side of the flat glass panel pointing outwards. All in all, a complete examination of the production of a thin flat glass is necessary, since extremely small defects also influence the processing of the glass surface and can thus inhibit the function of the monitor. During the production of flat glass, a high throughput is available as standard, so that inspection or examination systems have to test this large quantity of flat glass, with the corresponding inspection covering the entire surface. The most frequent defects are punctiform or linear. As defects are also to be excluded in the submicrometer range, these must be detected and localized by means of corresponding inspection methods.